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GRIMM ‘Plumed Serpent’ – Review

NBC’s GRIMM is a new drama series inspired by The Brother’s Grimm classic fairy tales. The series, written and jointly created by Stephen Carpenter, David Greenwalt, and Jim Kouf stars David Giuntoli, Russell Hornsby, Silas Weir Mitchell, Reggie Lee, Bitsie Tulloch, and Sasha Roiz. In Plumed Serpent, Nick meets a woman (guest star Danielle Panabaker) who might just be too hot to handle.

Said the Dragon, “Many knights have left their lives here, I shall soon have an end to you, too,” and he breathed fire out of seven jaws.

The Grimm Brothers tale Die zwei Brüder, The Two Brothers, is one of the most complicated of all the Grimm tales. The story hosts a multitude of themes that take two brothers on very different and complex journeys–involving a princess, many species of animals, a sword, and a 7-headed dragon (who ate many young maidens) that somehow in the end, they are finally reunited.

In last night’s episode, the story follows the “prince who is on a quest to save his girlfriend” with the predictable outcome. Warning, there be dragons in this tale! *Spoilers below*

If you play with fire…you’re gonna get burned.

When two men tried to rob an abandoned building of its copper, it seemed that they weren’t the only ones there. Even though one of the robbers was leery about entering the premises, greed, as always, pushes ill intentions forward. What met them was not only another copper thief, but a daemonfeuer (demon fire creature) as well. In the distance you hear a ‘cough,’ and then an tunnel of fire fries the robbers into crispy humans and piles of ash. Fleeing the scene, a man with a “Phantom of the Opera” like scarred face who nearly get’s hit by a car. Our daemonfeuer, perhaps?

Kudos on Daniel Baldwin for getting in on one of the hottest television series! The guy needed some decent work and it may be that he will be around for awhile as the new arson investigator? Anyway, he told Nick and Hank that this was no ordinary fire–these dudes looked as if they were hit by napalm! The residual substance had the chemical make-up of human adipose and methane. Flaming fat tissue, in other words.

Back at the station a witness came forward (the guy who almost hit the the Phantom-esq man earlier) to say that almost hit a man who looked homeless, running from the direction of the crime scene he heard about on the news. At the same time, the detectives get news of another break-in, which places them all in danger. As they cautiously investigate the building, the same homeless guy was there, and Sgt. Wu succumbed to whatever he spat out into the air. They escaped, just before a ball of flames headed their way. Analyses of the secretions led them to a Fred Eberhart (Daniel Knight), who happens to have a daughter, Ariel (Danielle Panabaker) who is an exotic, fire breathing dancer. Needless to say, she will soon cause Nick a bit of trouble.

Monroe likes to watch.

Meanwhile, at Club Trop Chaud, Monroe is front and center watching as Ariel is dancing the dance of fire. Nick also notices that she is a daemonfeuer and she notices him as a Grimm as well. In fact, she is making seductive eyes at Nick. Of course we can count on Monroe giving Nick more details on the show’s featured creatures, which he did. It seems that the daemonfeuer are obsessive treasure hoarders and hold up the traditions of old. The bit aforementioned about dragons, princesses, and knights in shining armor.

While Nick questions Ariel, she is constantly flirting with him and he is getting a little nervous at the attention he is receiving. She tells him that she doesn’t know where her father is and goes home. Nick, being the ever thorough investigator he is, follows her. It was there that she pounced on him, ripped his shirt open and “attacked” him.

Not only does she pounce Nick, she answers his phone when Juliette calls. When he gets home, he had to awkwardly explain to Juliette why a woman answered his phone., and she trusts him. But should Nick trust Ariel? Ariel calls Nick to tell him that she has information about her dad, and wants to tell him where to find him. It’s a trap. When Nick and Hank arrive to her home, she wasn’t there. It was a distraction–but for what.

The bitch is crazy!

She has kidnapped Juliette, and took her place in the bed. When Nick comes home and discovers that Juliette isn’t home, nor in bed, and that Ariel had taken Juliette’s place in the bed, this sets off a chain of events, that lead Nick and Monroe to an abandoned cave at the end of some train tracks. Monroe helps Juliette escape–and meets her for the first time–while Nick battles Ariel’s father. In the end, the prince slays the dragon, the princess gets away, and Ariel lives to fight another day.

Episode miscellany’s

— Monroe on the other hand, is appearing more involved–the brainier of the partnership. Nick’s almost complete dependency on Monroe is starting to handicap his character somewhat. Now I do commend the producers for allowing Nick to “come into” his Grimm character with the greatest of ease, I am not liking his info handicap. But it is understood that he is at a disadvantage here since he wasn’t paired with a Grimm elder of sorts to help him be aware of his powers.

— You know, I have a thought. Considering that Hank is Nick’s partner–he is at a severe deficiency by not knowing the things Monroe knows. Think about it for a moment. I may just put my foot in my mouth on this one, but, I see no reason for Hank to remain as Nick’s partner. I think the reason for his minimal appearance in the show, as the season progress is to diminish his importance. Same goes for Sgt. Wu. I think the producers are moving in this direction in an effort to “cut the fat.” The more people you have, the more you need to write them into the season. Hence, more to do with each character’s involvement. I might be wrong, but I had to make a note of this as well.

— Let’s revisit the issue with Juliette. In a prior review, well in pretty much all my reviews, I note that Juliette is one character in the series without a true purpose. I also mentioned that she is a distraction for Nick. In this episode, after she was kidnapped and all, and the ever increasing danger she may be involved in forces her to “rethink” her relationship with Nick. Nick even sees this evidenced by his Aunt’s “let her go” message popping in his head, warning him to let her go before she is placed in grave danger. He’s “listening” now. I think he is ready to let her go and it will save us from wondering why she is still in the show in the first place.

Overall, great episode. We are beginning to see all the pieces coming together, now. Bit by bit, episode by episode, the dots are starting to connect. Oh, and don’t forget, you can still catch last night’s episode on NBC.